


The Good Samaritan Rule

by KRizal



Series: Short Stories and Ficlets [1]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angels, Fluff, Freeform, M/M, slight angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-24
Updated: 2014-07-24
Packaged: 2018-02-10 04:44:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,051
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2011350
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KRizal/pseuds/KRizal
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The first time Jason offered to help groom Nico's wings,  Jason ended up with a bloody nose and a black eye. [Alternatively titled, In Which Jason Is Persistent, Nico Is Stubborn, And Everyone's An Angel.]</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Good Samaritan Rule

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: The PJO/HOO fandom falls under the legal ownership of Rick Riordan. I own nothing unless stated otherwise.  
> Terminology: Seraph(im) = Angel(s), Malak(him) = Angel(s) with 3 sets of wings, Ish(im) = Angel(s) with 1 set of wings, the Host = refers to the general family of angels in Heaven

The first time Jason offered to help groom Nico's wings, Jason ended up with a bloody nose and a black eye.

It was midday, when all _seraphim_ gathered in the Garden of Eden around the Fountains to relax and enjoy the cool waters, which were blessed with healing and strengthening properties. Jason settled down next to Piper and Leo when he caught sight of Nico, sitting alone near the farthest, smallest Fountain in the clearing.

Nico's overly-large, messy black wings arched over his head as he attempted to clean the primaries of one wing. As Jason watched, he could tell that Nico was becoming more frustrated by the minute. The younger boy's wings dwarfed his body and he could barely reach the middle of his secondary feathers, even when they were furled as close to him as anatomically possible.

Nico di Angelo was an enigma to Jason. He was fairly young, having joined the Host at the tender age of fourteen. But his name was well-known. His older sister Bianca had Fallen after his first year in Heaven, leaving Nico the only black-winged _seraph_ in the Silver City and New Jerusalem. He was small and lithe, quiet like a shadow, and he fascinated Jason to no end.

So despite Piper and Leo's attempts to dissuade him - "Leave him alone, Jason, you know he hates people sneaking up on him" (Piper) and "I heard his wings could crush bone and rock. I mean, we're in Heaven but do you really wanna chance it?" (Leo) - Jason approached Nico anyway.

"Hey."

"... Hey."

A short pause.

"What do you want, Grace?"

Jason ducked to avoid one dark wing as Nico stood and faced him. "I was just wondering if you needed any help with your wings."

Nico's face gave nothing away as he stared and Jason flushed, clasping his own three sets of wings at his back. "I noticed that you were having some trouble cleaning them and-"

"Who put you up to this?" Nico interrupted coldly. His wings unfurled around his head, ebony feathers bristling with warning. Jason took a wary step back. He may have been a _malakh_ \- an angel of higher ranking than single-set _ishim_ like Nico - but Nico was a force of nature in his own right.

"What? What do you mean-"

"You think you're so funny, huh, Grace?" Nico continued. Hushed whispers echoed around the Garden as Nico stepped forward. "What a jokester you are. So who said the dare? How much did they bet on riling me up?"

Jason frowned, noticing the attention they were drawing from the rest of the Host. At the corner of his eye, Piper shook her head and Leo cut a finger across his throat. He bit his lip out of habit and turned his attention back to Nico. "Hey, relax, will you? I'm just trying to be nice."

A heartbeat.

Jason landed hard on his back, face throbbing with pain and a feather stuck in his hair. He heard the other angels cry out in surprise, but all he focused on was Nico, already in the air and out of sight before he could regain his senses.

While Piper tiredly dunked his swollen face into one of the Fountains and Leo doubled over in laughter, updating their confused friends who hadn't arrived in time to see the spectacle, Jason slipped the lone feather into his pocket with rising stubborn conviction.

 

The second time Jason offered, it was on the eve of war. Hell had unleashed demons upon demons on Earth, and Heaven's garrisons were preparing for another no doubt long and difficult campaign.

Jason was walking through the Garden alone, having finished strategizing with other commanding _seraphim_ and hoping for some peace and quiet. The Garden was bathed in soft moonlight, the grass dappled with shadows. While Jason breathed in the fresh air, a small sound alerted him to a figure crouched beside a familiar-looking Fountain.

"Hey," Jason tried cautiously.

"Hey." Nico flicked a wing at him, but not out of warning or spite. "How's your face?" He'd been asking the same question for the past month whenever they saw each other. Out of courtesy or genuine concern, Jason did not know for sure yet, but delighted in it anyway.

"Doesn't hurt anymore, for the most part." His nose still throbbed at random times, but he didn't mention that.

For a moment, there was only the sound of water and wind.

"That's good," Nico muttered at last, which was different from his usual grunt to Jason's answer. That was as much apology as Jason was going to get, so he stood a good few meters away and looked Nico over. He was putting on obsidian metal armor with three silver seals gleaming on the breast plate. Jason was impressed. Obsidian metal denoted a battle scout and three seals spoke of considerable field skills.

Jason then glanced at Nico's wings. They were messy as usual, all wayward and protruding feathers, thick with the oil that wings naturally produced. _It mustn't be comfortable to fly with_ , Jason thought. He cleared his throat.

"Nico, if you want, I can-"

"No."

"You didn't even wait for the question," said Jason, resigned.

"I don't need to," Nico replied. He was trying to fasten on a forearm brace. "Others like you have asked in the past. The answer is still no."

"Why?"

"Because I said so."

"That's a silly reason," Jason declared, but this conversation was longer than he ever had hoped for with Nico di Angelo and he would try his best to keep it going.

"There's no logic in asking for help when it's not needed," Nico countered, sighing when the brace slipped off his arm again. "You're distracting me, Grace."

Jason kneeled and adjusted the brace's too-long straps, expertly snapping them into place. Nico's hands were warm against his.

"There's no logic in denying help when it's wanted," Jason corrected gently. Nico looked at him through short bangs, eyes bright and unreadable in the moonlight. Jason resisted the urge to do something reckless like tuck the hair behind Nico's ear. He would probably respond with a solid punch to the abdomen and Jason's health was still on a tentative road to full recovery. Instead, Jason withdrew the feather from his pocket.

"I believe this is yours," he said.

Nico glared at the feather. "I can't put it back." Jason knew this and grinned. There was a reason why he waited a month to approach Nico again, allowing a new feather to grow in the old one's place. Nico rolled his eyes.

"If you've kept it this long, it's already yours, you big-headed _malakh_. Consider it a reminder not to bother me about my wings anymore."

"But I can bother you about other things?" Jason asked with a short burst of sudden bravery that took him off guard.

Nico blinked twice and stood. "We'll see, Grace." He studied Jason for a moment and then smiled - not a full one, just a shy twist of the lips, but there nonetheless - and took off into the night.

Jason watched until Nico was a speck amongst the clouds. He slid the feather beside one of his own, a silent promise for next time. He shook out his wings and resumed his walk, preparing himself for the days to come. 

 

The third time, it wasn't so much an offer as it was the only option.

"Damn it, Grace, let go of me!" Nico snarled, squirming like a child in Jason's arms. Earth was blazing with lightning and fire around them. Chaos sang gleefully as angels and demons clashed in the air and on land. Jason pushed through, weaving them through thick knots of fighting, trying not to look at the silvery-white blood dripping off Nico's wrangled wings and God, why can't he fly any faster?

"Grace!"

"Be quiet," Jason snapped furiously, twisting into a sharp barrel-roll to avoid a screeching demon. "Damn it, for once in your life, will you just let someone else help you?"

Nico looked up at him with wide eyes. Blood was trickling down from a cut on his forehead. He looked too frail and young to be the strong, unmovable Nico that Jason always saw him to be.

"I used to," Nico choked out in a rush of words, "I used to, before Bianca Fell - I let Hazel - would have let you too - but I - _Jason_ -"

"I've got you," Jason promised desperately. Nico's torn wings came up to weakly wrap around his arms. Something closed up in Jason's throat and he blinked away the burn in his eyes.

"I'd have let you," Nico repeated, nearly inaudible. His words slurred together and Jason flew harder than he ever had before. Beyond the battlefield of Earth, past the defensive stations of Heaven, into the Garden where healers hastily directed him to a spare Fountain. Nico's Fountain.

Jason laid Nico down and stripped off his dented, bloodied armor. "You're a scout," he gritted, speaking for the sake of keeping Nico awake, "you're not supposed to get hurt. You're not supposed to be on the field when the actual fighting starts. You - You _idiot_ , you're not supposed to take shots for me!"

Nico didn't reply.

Jason cupped some water in his hands and dripped it into Nico's mouth. He took tiny gulps until he shook his head. To Jason's great relief, some color was returning to his cheeks. His breathing was soft and regular. But while his body was relatively untouched...

"Your wings," Jason said.

"How bad?" Nico didn't open his eyes.

Jason swallowed past the lump in his throat. "Bad."

The primaries were completely ripped off, leaving ugly bald patches. The secondaries were scorched, some to the root, which crumbled to ash with the slightest motion. At least the tertiaries, the most sensitive of all the coverts, were safe.

Nico moved his wings and shuddered in pain, gasping. Jason touched his face and coaxed his eyes open.

"Listen to me. I can help you. But you have to trust me. You have to let me help you, at least just this once. Please, Nico," Jason spoke with fervor, framing Nico's face with shaky hands.

Nico's eyes were dark with fathomless thoughts and his nails dug into Jason's arms. For the longest minute, he said nothing. Then he nodded once, a twitch of the head. "Okay," he said.

"Okay," Jason repeated, feeling a great weight lift from his shoulders. "Okay." He took a steadying breath, reached into the Fountain, and began.

When dawn broke a few hours later, Jason sat back, drained and aching. Crescents of fingernails lined his arms and his entire front was smeared with blood. But Nico slept on surely and deeply, bandaged wings curled like a cocoon around him. Jason held Nico's warm hands, bowed his head, and shook with breathless relief.

 

The campaign finished a year later, much shorter than what Heaven had expected. Jason could finally breathe easy, feeling the happiness radiating from his fellow _seraphim._ Earth was carefully cleansed before they headed back home.

The Silver City and New Jerusalem were filled with scores of celebrating angels, loud shouts of joy mingled with hymns of thanks. Jason received countless hugs and thumps on the back, praised as one of the best commanders in the Host. Pretty and eager young _seraphim_ began to press closer, but backed off in disappointment when he showed them the many black feathers in his wings.

All urged Jason to join in the festivities, but there was only one angel Jason wanted to see. He saluted to Piper and Leo, who shooed him off with exaggerated winks, and made for the Garden.

Nico was waiting when Jason met him near their Fountain.

"Hey," said Jason.

"Hey," said Nico, lips suppressing a smile.

His wings were fully healed, sleek and strong, unruly as ever. Jason touched a white feather sitting proudly in a knot of obsidian ones.

"We have a lot of work to do," Jason teased, rubbing two primaries gently between his fingers.

Nico caught Jason's hand. "I don't mind, do you?" He was smiling fully now, shining with confidence.

Jason tangled their fingers and wings together. White against black, a perfect balance. His eyes were bright with warmth as he leaned down for a kiss. "Not at all."

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Please feel free to leave comments and check out my tumblr at krrizal.tumblr.com for progress updates on stories, beta-ing/commission services, and fanfiction reviews.


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